


HOLLOW SPACE

by lackadaisically



Category: The Hollow (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Drama & Romance, M/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-06-09 23:29:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15278586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lackadaisically/pseuds/lackadaisically
Summary: A trio of teens awake from cryostasis to find themselves adrift with a ship in critical state, and no memories of themselves, each other—or even how they got there…





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

 

EMERGENCY. CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE.

An olive-toned teen awoke to a blaring alarm in tune to the flashing of text on the holoscreen of his pod.

WARNING: LIFE SUPPORT AT FIFTY PERCENT FUNCTIONALITY.

_Life Support?_ He thought to himself. His mind felt muddled—like he was just waking up after sleeping for a year. _What life support? Where the hell am I?_ He blinked a few times, through the red haze of hazard lights that bathed his body in a somber glow. The first thing he noticed (besides the red EMERGENCY strobing in front of him) was the confined space he currently seemed to be locked in. And he was **cold**.

The second thing he noticed was—well, he couldn’t remember anything. Not his name, how he got here. Nothing. It was a blank.

The thick glass door that acted as a display for the warning message slid open with a hydraulic hiss, and the teen collapsed from the pod onto a solid metal floor. His muscles felt weak, atrophied. It was a struggle to bring himself upright to glance around the space.

HULL INTEGRITY AT SEVENTY-EIGHT PERCENT.

A mechanical, yet unmistakably female voice called out over the intercom.

IMMEDIATE REANIMATION IN PROGRESS.

The room he was in was a rather small space—large enough to house three cryopods. (Cryopods? How did he know they were cryopods?) The teen’s head rose as the two other pods opened, and two more figures joined him in his collapsed state on the floor. One was a boy—maybe his age, or maybe younger. With a fair complexion, and fiery-red hair. The other was undoubtedly a girl, with a tangled mess of shoulder-length black hair tied neatly in a hairband behind her neck.

EMERGENCY. CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE.

The warning repeated in loop, and an audible groan slipped from the girl a few feet away from where the olive-toned teen was collecting himself. “Critical system failure. Wha—?” The girl mumbled, rising her head to survey her surroundings, much as he had seconds prior. A startled gasp escaped her lips when she noticed she wasn’t alone.

“Who— who are you?” She asked him.

“Good question.” He replied—his voice sounded cooler than he expected, but it was of little consolation to the girl. Who stared at him like he was the epitome of _stranger danger._ “The better question is what the hell happened?” The automated warning played violently over his words, and it made it even harder for him to think. “I’m… feeling a little… sluggish? Right now. So—I can’t really answer either of those questions.” At least he was regaining some of the strength back in arms and legs.

“It’s a side effect from the cryo-sleep. It should wear off in about half an hour.” The girl replied, suspiciously quick.

“What? How’d you know that?”

The girl opened her mouth in repose, but before she could muster a word, their third companion shot up with a scream.

“AAAAAAAH!” He started, mustering up his body up on shaky legs with the manic energy of the warning loop. “No, nonono. NO! WE’RE DEAD! WE’RE ALL DEAD!”

“Wait!” The olive-toned teen yelled, but with no explanation—the red-haired teen’s wobbly legs carried the other boy from the room and straight through a sliding mechanical door. His voice hardly muted by the layer of metal between them.

At least the olive-toned teen could stand, and take a shaky step towards the door the other had bolted towards.

“Wait! Please help me up.” The girl called after him, causing his attention to immediately swivel onto her. He nodded, and mustered the energy to pull her to her feet with the aid of a helping hand. “Thank you…” she squinted at him for a second, “…Adam.”

A shock of surprised rocked his being for a second. That was his name—he knew it. “Y-you know my name?” He asked under a thin veil of suspicion.

“Well...” the girl seemed a bit coy, rubbing at the nape of her neck, “I hope it is. It’s on your shirt.” She answered, causing him to glance down at the skin-tight silver-and-black fabric that adorned his chest. On the breast, in all capitals, simply read: ADAM. His hues drifted from his shirt to hers, where mirrored clothing bore a name on her lapel: MIRA.

“And you’re Mira.” He replied, feeling slightly awkward. She seemed so familiar to him, yet he couldn’t place why.

Another scream broke his train of thought, and both Adam and Mira turned their attention to the direction of the scream—the set of doors the redhead had barreled through. Adam didn’t have to think about this next part—

“Let’s go.” Adam said after glancing back to Mira, and on shaky legs, they both trudged through the sliding metal doors which led them into dimly lit hallway. A few more feet down, was another door. They both stumbled a few times as they approached, and each one helped the other back to their feet.

On the other side of the door, looked like a control room—to the best of Adam’s knowledge. Monitors and holoscreens adorned the walls above console after console with dull, flashing lights. The redhead was off to the left, frantically typing at a keyboard.

“No, nonono. This shouldn’t be happening.” He spoke to himself, voice cracking from stress. “This is an S-Class vessel, life support should be fully functional for a century at least—and there’s no way we were asleep for that long.”

The redhead didn’t seem perturbed by Adam and Mira’s approach. The two simply watched as he navigated screen-to-screen like a seasoned pro. His gangly fingers never left the keyboard. “W-what happened?” Adam finally perked up, watching symbols he didn’t recognize fly by on the holoscreen.

“SHH! I’m trying to concentrate!” The redhead shushed, tucking his tongue between his lips.

Adam _shh’d_. Instead, he wagered a glance at Mira, who immediately shrugged her shoulders in confusion.

Over the speakers, that same female voice that issued the warning announced:

DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE.

And a wall of text appeared over the holoscreen. The redhead read aloud: “Impact damage to the starboard hull—no, that wouldn’t have done it. Power surge in sickbay? Maybe, but—AHA! That’s it!” A few more rapid seconds of furious typing and the automated voice rang out:

ILLICIT CODE DETECTED. PROCESSING…

PROCESSING… PROCESSING…

ILLICIT CODE PURGED. INITIATING AUTO-REPAIR SEQUENCE ALPHA.

LIFE SUPPORT RESTORED. SYSTEM RESET IN THIRTY SECONDS.

The redhead breathed out a sigh of relief. “I—I think we’re safe.” He announced with a relived sigh. What the hell was up with this guy? Not only did he not seemed to be affected by the side effects of the cryosleep, but he seemed to have some basic knowledge of wherever they were—

“What happened?” Mira mirrored his question from earlier, causing the redhead to swivel in his chair. “Who are you? Where are we?”

“I—uh… I’m not sure.” The redhead confessed, carding his slender digits through his unruly mop of hair. “There was… an impact on the starboard hull. A meteor, is my guess. Which kinda… jogged some things loose in the engine room and sickbay... Couple that with some bad code, and… you get emergency, critical system failure I guess?”

“Okay…” Adam started, trying to process what the redhead had said, but none of it made sense—nor did it really answer the important question floating in Adam’s mind—

“…but that still doesn’t answer _who_ you are, or _where_ we are!” Mira finished Adam’s thought, exactly as he had it. Weird.

“Uh, I think his name is Kay…” Adam said, motioning to the KAI branded across the redhead’s chest. It was only now that Adam noticed all three seemed to be wearing the same kind of clothing. Skin-tight silver and black.”

“Kai… Actually. The computer pronounced it like Kai.” The redhead corrected. “As for where we are…” And as if on cue, power seemed to shut off in the room before blazing back to life to fully bathe the trio in a radiant light.

GOOD MORNING CREW.

The computer greeted them, sounding far more chipper than the somber tone she had when issuing the warning.

WELCOME TO THE UNITED FEDERATION’S S-CLASS EXPLORER: THE HOLLOW.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAY I INTRODUCE: LOST IN SPACE AU.
> 
> This, at it's core, is intended to be a multiple chapter fic. How long and where it'll end is a mystery to me. I'd love to finish this—so if you liked it, let me know! Encouragement always gets the juices flowing.
> 
> Also this was an unbeta'd first draft. I'll fix what I can at a later date. I apologize for any mistakes that were made.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Questions are answered, but even more take their place.

It took a few seconds for Kai’s eyes to adjust to the blazing light, and he felt the pulse of a headache curling behind them. He squeezed them shut for a few passing seconds as the ship greeted them. “I guess that answers that question.” He said, opening his eyes to reveal the fully-lit interior. The Bridge, Kai somehow knew.

“I guess that leaves us with about… a billion more!” The girl, Mira, shot back quickly.

“Well I got a few of my own!” Kai huffed out his response.

“Guys,” the other boy, Adam, spoke up, “relax. Since we’re not going to die immediately, we can figure this out.” He seemed calm for suddenly being woken up by a blaring alarm. Too calm. “We at least know each other’s names. And… that we’re on a space ship, apparently. I’m just curious about one thing…

“Does anyone remember anything?”

Kai shook his head along with Mira.

“Me neither…” Adam confessed, making a thoughtful sound in the back of his throat.

There was a moment of silence before Mira spoke up. “It _could_ be another side effect of cryosleep, but… I don’t know. The typical side effects can range from muscle deterioration to mild confusion. But not memory loss.”

Adam turned his head to the side to glance at Mira. “You said something about that earlier… which makes me wonder why you,” his glance turned to Kai—making him swallow nervously, “were able to rush off like you did.”

Kai brought his hands up in defense.  “I-I don’t know!”

“Adrenaline, probably.” She offered. “Under certain circumstances, the sudden surge of epinephrine is sometimes enough to “push past” the physical weakness, but…” she paused for a moment, pinching her chin between her index and thumb in thought, “...it carries a great strain on your muscles...”

“Y-yeah, that!” Kai hadn’t noticed until now, but whatever surge he’d felt upon waking up in a panic was waning. Sharp needles of pain prickled in the muscles of his calves and thighs, dulling Kai’s exuberance momentarily. He gave his left thigh an idle rub as Mira explained.

“How do you know all this?” Adam questioned Mira.

She looked thoughtful for a moment. “I’m… not sure. It’s just… something I _know_. It almost kind of feels like an instinct—”

“Like what I did with the computer! I don’t know _how_ I knew. I just knew!” Kai interjected, causing Adam’s brow to knit in confusion.

“That was going to be my next question.” The olive-toned teen admitted.

“I know that… sounded more confusing than it feels. But—come on. When I woke up, I couldn’t even remember my name, but I heard the warning same as you guys! I knew that if I didn’t do something, we were all going to die. And I… don’t know how, but it felt like my instincts kicked in and I knew exactly what to do.” Kai is rather animated as he speaks, hands enunciating through various words in flux with his tone. In finality, shoulders rose with a shrug. Why did he feel the incredible need to justify himself to this guy? “It’s more than that, though…” Kai continued, “I feel like I know every nut and bolt on this ship, but… I don’t remember anything else...”

“Even more questions.” Mira stated, tapping her chin with her index finger. “And I don’t think we’re going to find anymore answers here.”

“It could help to look around. Get familiar with this place—I don’t think we’re going to be going anywhere for the time being.” Adam said. He had a fair point. Kai didn’t have the mind (or the idea) to check the computer for any indication of a potential location. As far as they were concerned—the ship was home.

“So… exploring? That could be dangerous.” Mira offered.

“That’s why I think we should stick together for now. That’s the smart play. No use in splitting up—that is… if we all trust each other?” Adam replied.

That was the question weighing heavily on the room. Kai shifted absently in his seat. “Well. I just saved all our asses, so… I think I earned a little trust.” His arms came back to cup behind his head, flashing the two a smug grin.

Mira snorted, and Adam merely shook his head. “Fair enough, _Mister Hero_.” He replied, turning his attention to Mira who immediately started to chuckle.

“I think I’m a pretty good judge of character, and you two dorks... seem fine by me.” She said.

“Then let’s explore!” Kai responded, excitement drawing him quickly from the chair he was sitting in, only for his knees to buckle lifelessly under his weight causing his legs to throb with a searing jolt of pain. But it wasn’t metal he collided face-first into—it was a body. He couldn’t immediately tell who caught him, but at in that moment he didn’t even care—whoever caught him smelled of a home he couldn’t even remember, and Kai was lost to a pleasant wave of confusing nostalgia.

“Hey, you okay?” Adam’s voice called out, right above him—giving him pause. His head ducked back, and—yes. It was Adam’s chest he’d fallen into. Embarrassment flooded his features, painting them pink.

“Uh—yeah. I’m fine. Just…” he cleared his throat and tried to separate himself from Adam. The other didn’t resist, yet kept a firm grip on Kai’s elbows to help keep him steady, “…my legs aren’t working right.”

“Probably from that mad dash to save our butts. Whatever strength you had in your legs is gone, just like I said. Adam, set him back down, please.” Mira instructed, and Adam complied, helping Kai find his place back in his chair. Kai frowned, but offered no protest. Mira took Adam’s place in front of Kai, and gave him a quick once over: checking his vitals. “Everything _seems_ to be in order. Are you in any pain?”

“Yeah,” Kai replied, “my legs feel like habanero jelly.”

“On a scale of one to ten?”

“A solid fifteen.” Kai replied sarcastically.

“Wow, that bad, huh?” Mira finally drew back, crossed her arms, and gave Kai her best unamused look.

“I guess that settles it. Kai, you stay here. Mira and I will look around, see if we can figure anything out.” Adam announced.

“What happened to sticking together?!” Kai interjected.

“We won’t go far, and besides… it seems relatively safe,” Adam glanced around the room again, like he was looking for what to call it, “here.”

“Okay, I’ll just… _do whatever_.” Kai puffed out, somehow managing the strength to swivel about in his chair to face the computer once again. “And… let’s call it the bridge. I think that’s what it is anyway.”

 

* * *

 

“So, what do you think of him?” Mira asked the moment she and Adam were back into the room they had awoken in.

“What do you mean?” Adam asked, surveying his surroundings. With power restored, he could make out more of the white-and-chrome room. Besides the cryopods built into the walls, there was a trio of lockers. Each set beside one of the pods. Adam made his way over to the locker beside the pod he fell from, hoping he could find something useful in it. He was unsurprised by his name engraved in capitals across the front—at least he knew which one was his.

“I mean… what do you think _of_ him?” Mira didn’t elaborate, having found her own locker before she shuffled through it. Adam offered her an unseen shrug. “To me he seems like a pretty genuine guy. Kind of loud, but — oh hey, look!” She suddenly announced completely cutting her thoughts on Kai in favor of pulling what looked like a lab coat from the confines of her locker before slipping it over her shoulders. “How do I look?” She asked, posing a bit for Adam.

“Like a doctor.” Came his curt reply.

Mira made a razzing noise at him before shifting her attention back to her locker. Adam did the same, finally pulling the door of the locker open. The first thing to take Adam’s notice was a jacket that hung from a metal hanger. Black and white and trimmed with silver. There was a patch on the shoulder closest to him, displaying a sort of an angular spiral on a black shield. Underneath the jacket was a duffle-bag with the same patch on the left flank. Finally, on the little metal shelf that sat above the rod the jacket hung on, was a little leather-bound book. Adam pulled it from the shelve as a sound of victory came from Mira alongside the rattling of a bottle.

“Oh! Painkillers. Kai’ll be glad I have these,” she announced, reading from the label of the pill bottle in her hand. Adam turned his attention away from the bound leather book in his head to see Mira digging through her own duffle bag and pulling out a trio of metal cylinders. She squinted at the label on one of them. “And these are to help with the side effects of cryosleep.” Mira sounded like she knew what she was talking about, but even then—Adam was still shocked when she suddenly rose one of the cylinders to her neck. A hiss of air followed, and Mira winced as she injected herself. The olive-toned teen opened his mouth to speak, but a sigh of relief escaped from Mira and she said, “Much better.”

“You… certainly put a lot of faith in your instincts, don’t you?” Adam asked with a raised brow.

Mira simply smiled at him, “Nope, just medicine—but the real question is: do you?” 

Adam knew where this was going, “I guess one of those is for me?” It was a statement more than a question, but Mira nodded her head, anyway. Adam didn’t have any explicit reason to distrust Mira, or even think whatever chemicals stored in the syringe would be inherently harmful considering she injected herself without hesitation. He loosed a sigh, “Yeah,” he resigned as Mira walked over to him, “you’re the Doctor.” 

“Damn straight I am.” Mira replied enthusiastically, raising the second cylinder. She pushed the end against his neck, and with a hiss of pressurized air—a needle shot out and injected the contents of the syringe into Adam’s blood stream. 

Adam yelped a bit from the pinch of pain, but he could almost immediately feel his strength returning to him, and his footing felt more solid against the grated metal flooring. His mind felt clear, but no memories returned.  When Mira pulled the syringe back, Adam’s hand came up to the injection spot—like he was afraid he was going to bleed out from the small puncture. “I don’t think I like needles, but… thank you.” 

“It’s not that bad, but… you’re welcome.” Mira smiled at him, and Adam smiled back. “Now, if you’ll excuse me a moment, I have one more patient I have to attend.” She said as she turned about, pocketed the bottle of pain pills, and walked through the door of the bridge.

Adam simply shook his head as she left and turned his attention back to the bound leather book in his hand. He’d been curious about the book since he found it, but that curiosity was temporarily set-aside for Doctor Mira’s “check-up”. Now that she was tending to Kai, Adam pondered what was inside. Did it have some answers, or just more questions? What if it held something Adam didn’t want to know? What if it held nothing? The teen swallowed thickly, debating on whether to untie the leather strip that bound the cover together… 

Curiosity won the day. Adam untied the leather strip with ease, letting the treads dangle with gravity and their own whims. He opened the book, and he was greeted with a single line of handwritten text:

 

_To the most important man in my life. I don’t know where I would be without you._

_I love you._

 

Adam’s heart swelled, and he nearly choked on an intake of breath. Somebody loved him. Did that mean he was important to someone? But… who? Where? Did he leave them behind, or had he taken them with him? He wasn’t sure what prospect was worse, but he knew that this book, and whatever in it was special to him. He stared at the line of text for a solid minute, lost in his sudden feelings of _being loved._ Though saddened by the realization he’d forgotten _who_ loved him, Adam found comfort in the knowledge he was important to someone.

Steeled, he flipped the page, and was greeted with more text; a passage written in a different hand than the affectionate forward.

 

_Captain’s Log, Day Zero._

_(god, that makes me sound like a dork)_

_It’s done. I finally did it. Command’s granted me a crew and a mission, and we leave tomorrow. I can’t tell if I’m more excited that I finally made Captain, or for the mission. But I do know that I couldn’t have asked for a better crew. Not only are they my best friends, but they’ve practically been family since our first days at the Garrison._

_I’m not so sure about the new guys, though. Command assures me it’s fine, they were chosen for the same reason as us. Highly respected, and top of their fields. But… I’ve clashed with Reeve a few times in combat sims, and he doesn’t seem to like the fact I was made Captain instead of him. I’m less sure about Skeet and Vanessa. Skeet seems harmless, but he’s a bit of a slacker—and that can be dangerous on-mission, and there’s something about Vanessa that doesn’t sit right with me. I can’t quite place what. She’s… almost too quiet._

_I hope I’m wrong, but whatever happens: I know Kai and Mira have my back._

_— Captain Adam Reyes._

Captain Reyes? This was his journal. He flipped through a few more pages to see if there was anything more written in it—but found nothing. What he did find seemed to be enough; he was the Captain, this was _his_ ship and _his_ crew. Somehow, he knew he could trust Kai and Mira, but his passage also rose more questions. Who were the new guys he mentioned? Reeve, Vanessa, Skeet? The names didn’t sound familiar, but he felt his own words twist a warning in his gut. 

The door to the bridge slid open, and from it Mira emerged. “Hey Adam, Kai thinks he found something.” She announced, walking over to her duffel bag to dig out a plastic bag with a bio-hazard symbol on it before stashing it away in her recess of the bag. “I’ll get rid of those after I find out where I can.” She then zipped up the bag and deposited it in her locker, locking it up behind her. “Let’s go.” 

Adam did the same with his journal; binding it in the leather strip and tossing it back where he found it, and then shut the door. He moved to join Mira as they walked to the bridge. “What was that?” She asked with a raised brow. 

“My journal, apparently.” He responded, morphing her face into a mixture of surprise and intrigue as they passed through one set of doors that lead into the short hall. 

“Oh? Find anything?” 

“It was mostly empty except for the first couple pages. I do know my whole name now: Adam Reyes, and I am the…” 

“Captain on deck!” Kai announced boisterously as the two entered the bridge, grinning widely from his swivel chair. For some reason, Adam felt embarrassed. This guy… “And the Doctor, what a pleasant surprise. Even though that shot was unnecessary.”

“It was totally necessary.” Mira shot back as they approached the redhead turning in his chair. It looked like his legs were starting to function better. “You got jokes.” She said with a pointed look. “Your whining; however, was less so.”

“I… don’t even want to know.” Adam said as he glanced between the two. “What’d you find, Kai?”

“Two things!” He said, turning his body about to face the keyboard; “A map of the ship, and…” he said, pressing a few keys before a large circular display lit up to their left, in the center of the room. From it, a three-dimensional holographic projection of the ship. Text denoted various areas of the ship, “… our personnel files.” A few more key taps, and the ship was replaced by the grinning busts of the three rendered in the same holographic form as the ship. Beside each bust, was a box of text with various information. “Greetings,” Kai started, attempting to stand from his chair. He managed to stand solid on his feet for a second, but when he went to move, he tipped forward until Adam caught him by the bicep. Kai offered him a sheepish glance, whispered a thank you, and then continued. “it’s us.” The previous confidence in his voice wavered, but he pushed through as Adam kept him upright as the three approached the holo-interface. 

“Captain Adam Reyes.” He read off, leaning his weight on his hip against the interface and giving Adam an _I’m good_ gesture with a wave of his hand. “Mira Yang, MD—” 

“That’s Doctor Yang to you, funny-guy.” Mira replied. 

Kai shook his head with a smile on his lips. “Ladies like a sense of humor, especially from Chief Engineering Officer Kai McLoud.” The redhead flexed his arms in a pose. Too bad he was mostly gangle, or it’d almost look like he’d have muscles. Still… he did possess a sort of odd charm. Though, Adam found the surname rather appropriate. 

Mira crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. “Mm’m.” She didn’t seem too impressed by his antics, however… 

“There was… three more personnel files I found while I was digging.” Kai changed the topic quickly, accessing the holomap via a terminal pad beside his thigh. The trios holofiles were replaced by three more new ones. “There’s three other people on board... Jason Skeet, Reeve Malik, and Vanessa Delos.” Kai finished pressing a few more keys, and the holomap interface split into two sections; a larger part displayed a map of the ship, the bridge, where along the left side each crew-members display image sat beside their designated names. 

Adam swallowed thickly, quietly remembering his thoughts in his journal. “We should probably find them.” He said to the other two, and all three nodded in unison. 

Then, the mechanical sound of a door hissed open. “No need,” one voice said. 

“We found you guys.” Came another.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaA THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR AMAZING COMMENTS! I'm so sorry it took so long to get the second chapter finished, but I hope you enjoy it! Chapter three is in the works! There's a few hidden meanings in a couple surnames. Cookies for those who can guess them!
> 
> Untold information — AGES.  
> Adam: 19, Mira: 18. Kai: 18. Reeve: 20. Skeet: 19. Van: 19.


End file.
